Formerly shy teen is now an open book

TERESA DILDAY once steered clear of people and certainly didn’t speak much when she had to be around them.

It’s hard to believe now. Teresa, 30, runs the book section at the Goodwill Store in Coeur d’Alene. She laughs with her co-workers and pinpoints good buys in the new donations. She steers customers to Danielle Steele’s books, a constant favorite, and smiles when they tell her about other gripping books.

“She just blossomed,” says Tracie Olin. She manages the Goodwill’s facility in Coeur d’Alene and hired Teresa, who’s developmentally about half her age, seven years ago. “I’ve seen her go from introverted to teasing, joking and taking charge. Her self-esteem has grown.”

Teresa smiles self-consciously.

“Everyone here is friendly and nice. I even get along with the big bosses,” she says.

Teresa’s personal growth was so obvious that Tracie nominated her for Goodwill’s regional independence award. At a banquet in March, Teresa received the award. She was selected from all Goodwill’s employees in the Inland Northwest’s 12 stores. At the same banquet, Coeur d’Alene’s store was named the regional store of the year for the second consecutive year and fifth time under Tracie’s management.

“I don’t know that my life would be as positive as it is now if it wasn’t for Goodwill,” Tracie says. “It’s good to be really assisting the public.”

Goodwill has made a name for itself over the years as a top market for second-hand everything – clothes, furniture, dishes, books, exercise equipment, toys, etc. Finding use for discards – from household and society – is the organization’s mission, and Coeur d’Alene’s chapter does a stellar job.

Tracie helped open the stylish thrift store in midtown Coeur d’Alene in 1993. The building had served as a neighborhood supermarket. Tracie, a former band singer ready to move on with her life, started at Goodwill in 1992 sorting donations. She encouraged a stylish department store approach in the new store.

The store opened with indoor neon signs announcing sections – shoes, women’s, children’s, La Bobbi Boutique for fancier items. It featured neatly organized racks of clothes and furniture displayed in scenes.

Customers shopped under fluorescent lights to the tunes of Billy Joel, Elton John and Paul Simon. Cashiers smiled and took pains to protect the fragile items people bought.

It wasn’t long before Coeur d’Alene’s Goodwill store was selling $100,000 each month, and Tracie was asked to train new managers and help other stores.

“People mentored me, allowed me to make mistakes, learn from them and move forward,” she says. “When life’s challenges happen, not a lot of organizations stand behind you. Goodwill is very family-oriented.”

Tracie absorbed the prevailing philosophy at Goodwill and practiced it at every opportunity. Teresa came to her from a vocational rehabilitation program in 1997.

“She was withdrawn, shy,” Tracie says.

She started Teresa in books. Teresa thumbed through every donated hardback and paperback to decide what Goodwill should keep to sell and what she should throw out. The quiet woman with the dark ponytail tried other departments – jewelry, housewares – but books appealed most to her.

She learned to remove books that had stayed on the store shelves for more than a week. She learned to categorize by hard or soft cover and subject. She quickly became aware which authors were popular.

Teresa’s book center became her pride and joy. She separated books into neatly stacked plastic baskets that she eventually carried into the store. She swept often so dirt never accumulated. Best of all, she began to laugh out loud and joke with her co-workers.

“She’s shown tremendous improvement with social skills and independence,” says Jodi Powell, Goodwill’s social services director in Coeur d’Alene. “She’s our princess.”

Working at Goodwill “feels good,” Teresa says, smiling. She has no intention of taking the skills she learned anywhere else.

And why should she? After Goodwill awarded Teresa in March, Suzan Heaton, the human resources secretary for Coeur d’Alene’s operation, brought her flowers and chocolate-dipped strawberries. The store’s employees crowded into the room to congratulate Teresa. Even her nieces and nephews came to see her honored.

“We have many disadvantaged people here providing regular customer service,” Tracie says. “People don’t believe it. I love it.”